The Class of 2011 — Day 12: Serpa always listens to the best advice and goes out as a state champ

John Nash

Published 8:00 pm, Sunday, June 12, 2011

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The Class of 2011 — Day 12: Serpa always listens to the best advice and goes out as a state champ

The Class of 2011 — Day 12: Serpa always listens to the best advice and goes out as a state champ

The Class of 2011 — Day 12: Serpa always listens to the best advice and goes out as a state champ

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If you had to pick the funniest member of the Wilton boys lacrosse team, chances are you wouldn't chose Mike Serpa as Sir Laugh-a-lot.

To watch him play lacrosse — which we've all had the pleasure of doing for the better part of the last three seasons — then you've seen his quiet intensity, burning on the inside until all of a sudden like a cobra striking its prey (where's Pat Holland's pet snake?) you'll suddenly see Serpa attack an opposing goalie with vicious efficiency.

Just ask New Canaan's Jimmy Joe Granito, whom Serpa beat four times in Saturday's state championship game, leading the Warriors to the CIAC Class M state championship with a 12-2 win.

"I'm proud of it," Serpa said of his biggest scoring effort of the season in the biggest game of the year.

Mike Francia, however, let us in on a little secret.

"After he scores, the things he says are hilarious," Francia said, adding that most Serpa's best post-goal quotes couldn't be printed in a family newspaper. Or in this case, a family sports bl

The Warrior Nation did get a public look at Serpa's sense of humor during his "On The Record" interview with the Wilton Villager earlier this spring.

When asked the best advice he ever received from his parents, Serpa dead-panned, "Don't get arrested."

Serpa, however, does have a serious enough side that - as a senior leader - he was one of the keys to the turn-around of Wilton's season.

After a regular season loss to New Canaan dropped the Warriors to 4-5 on the season, Serpa said he realized he and his classmates had to step up.

"All year, there's been so much hype about our senior class that was like our midseason crisis," Serpa recalled. "It was our wake-up call that we, the senior class, had to step up and lead the team if we wanted to win a state championships."